TWEETS RECENTES

Want to learn about Smarter Healthcare? Just ask a Nurse....

Today while I was at the eye doctors
waiting to start my glaucoma screening recheck, I picked up a copy of
Reader's Digest. The small “hand held” magazine made me feel a
bit nostalgic because the primary magazine we had around the house
when I was growing up was RD. I always felt that I was somehow
missing something by just reading the “digest” version of the
latest news and updates. Little did I know at the time, that RD was
way ahead of its time. Today in our hyper stimulated digital age,
all we can truly consume is the digest (facebook) and sometimes the
best we can do is take in digest of the digest (twitter).

#10 “When you tell me how much you
eat or drink or smoke or how often you do drugs I automatically
double or triple it” (I am so guilty of this “under-reporting
matter.)

#9 “Your life is in our
hands---literally. We question physicians' orders more often than
you might think. Some of the the mistakes I've headed off: a
physician who forgot to order a medication that the patient was
taking at home, a doctor who ordered the incorrect diet for a
diabetic, and one who tried to perform a treatment on the wrong
patient.”(Nurses who head off
mistakes are the “secret weapons” to Smarter Healthcare.)

#8 “If you have a choice, don't go
the hospital in July. That's when the new crop of residents starts
and they're pretty clueless.”(Although
this didn't make #1 on on my Top 10 list, it's definitely one of my
favorites.)

#7 “Now that medical records are
computerized, a lot of nurses or doctors read the screen while you're
trying to talk to them. If you feel like you're not being heard, say
'I need you're undivided attention for a moment.'” (An
advisable technique for requesting personal attention during business meetings too.)

#6 “Despite nurses'
best efforts, hospitals are still filthy and full of drug resistant
germs. I don't even bring my shoes into the house when I get home.”
(I've never been a
germ-a-phobe before...but after hearing this I may need to reconsider
my position.)

#5 “The No. 1 thing you should
never say to me: 'You're too smart to be a nurse.” I went to
nursing because I wanted to be a nurse, not because I wanted to be a
doctor and didn't make it.” (I love this one!)

#4 “We aren't going to tell you
your doctor is incompetent, but if we say “'You have the right to a
second opinion”, that can be code for 'I don't trust your doctor.'”(A really good tip on how to use “code words”...a technique
that can be easily translated into any profession.)

#3 “When your provider asks for a
list of the medications you're taking, make sure you include
over-the-counter drugs and herbals. People think that if an herb is
'all natural' and 'organic,' it's not a medication. But that's not
true. Herbals can interact with other medications and cause serious
complications." (I've heard the same advice from one of my wife's
favorite National Public Radio (NPR) shows, “The People's
Pharmacy.)

#2 "When a patient is
terminally ill, sometimes the doctor won't order enough pain
medication. If the patient is suffering, we'll sometimes give more
than what the doctor said and ask him later to change the order.
People will probably howl now that I've said it out loud, but you
have to take care of your patient." (I sure hope if I am
every terminally ill, my nurse does this for me!)

#1 “The doctors don't save you; we
do. We're the ones keeping an eye on your electrolytes, your fluids,
whether you're running a fever. We're often the one who decide
whether you need a feeding tube or a central line for your IV. And
we're the ones who yell and scream when something goes wrong.”(I
think this one says it all!)

By 2025, the United States is expected
to be short about a quarter-million registered nurses. I for one sure
like the sound of those odds which is why I've started my nursing
education at Wake Technical Community College here in Raleigh, North
Carolina.

For all the terrific nurses out there
working hard to deliver SMARTER HEALTHCARE.....THANK YOU!

Oh by the way, thanks to some very cool
new eye imaging tools, my eye doctor determined that my elevated
pressures were NOT an early indication of future glaucoma concerns.
WHEW!